ABSTRACT
Between 1999 and 2019, there has been a marked decline of investigative journalism in Nigeria’s traditional media and a corresponding shift towards the online media. This chapter holds that the rise of digital media has disrupted the business model of traditional media organisations in Nigeria, leading to plummeting advertising revenues and consequences for investigation. It presents an overview of investigative journalism as a liberal democratic norm both in the wider political communication literature and in Nigeria specifically. The chapter discusses the decline of investigative reporting in traditional print media due to the death of magazines and depleting investigative units over time. Classical liberal theory assumed that publicity and openness, which investigative journalism engenders, were the most effective guarantees against the corrupting influence of power. Nigeria has between 400 and 1000 news publications, most of them owned by proprietors who were themselves former journalists and editors, although an increasing number are owned by politicians or businessmen with political connections.
